Klarinet Archive - Posting 000542.txt from 1998/02

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: Re: klarinet-digest V1 #665
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 17:20:23 -0500

THe note (below) regarding the relative lack of odd key oboes and
bassoons confirms my logic, that the primitive early clarinet really WAS
primitive. Remember, the oboe d'amore and the English horn are quite
removed from the oboe in terms of pitch--and the oboe d'amore died with
Bach and Graun and Telemann, IT WASN'T NEEDED for the performance of 18
century orchestral music in sharps!! Early oboes are cool from Eb major
thru to D, or maybe A; 5 key clarinets are not this supple. Hence, teh
profusion of clarinets before 1800, while odd key oboes and bassoons
were not needed. As Ed Lacy says, we do continue to live with
this--this "tradition"--but there is more to it than that. Although a
very agile instrument, the clarinet really does best in certain
circumscribed keys, mainly because (unlike the oboe) the various pinky
finger tone hole covers are not articulated, and a smooth technique on
these keys is much less approachable.

Go ahead, burn me, but first pull out your Loree and your Buffet. Play
each of the Mozart concerti for oboe and clarinet, then repeat--this
time playing each a half step lower. You will see my point. And, this
phenomenon is much, much more evident on early clarinets and oboes.

Regards, Robert Howe

From: Roger Shilcock
<roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subject: Re: The Primitive Early Clarinet

Something at the back of my mind says there have been military bassoons
in
B flat. There have certainly been oboes in high E flat.
Roger Shilcock